Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition

The FPMT is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.

Good human qualities… honesty, sincerity, a good heart, cannot be bought with money, nor can they be produced by machines, but only by the mind itself. We call this the inner light, or God’s blessing, or human quality. This is the essence of mankind.

The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop and features a vast selection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus. These items include homestudy programs, prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children, and other resources to support practitioners.

During the2018 retreat in Australia, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was asked, “What is the best way to develop bodhichitta?” You can read Rinpoche’s response in this excerpt from the teaching and in the following video clip.

Many people think there must be some other way to develop bodhichitta. There must be some other way, not lamrim. There must be something special. Not lamrim, not lamrim! Something fantastic! Some other way.

I say “renunciation.” My answer is “renunciation.” The more strongly you see your own suffering in samsara, then when you think of others, you have stronger compassion. You feel others’ suffering in samsara. Then also you have loving kindness for others. You want others to have happiness. And then you have stronger compassion for others to be free from samsara.

For one to do that by oneself—to free all sentient beings from samsara and bring to buddhahood—one has to achieve enlightenment. To do that by oneself alone, then one has to achieve enlightenment. So how strong one’s bodhichitta is depends on the foundation—strong renunciation, strong compassion. When they are strong, then there is strong bodhichitta.

In this southern continent there are all kinds of happiness, but there are all kinds of suffering. There is so much suffering that you can see, you can hear, so much in the world.

The other worlds are not like that. Like the northern continent where everybody lives for one thousand years, nobody is poor, everybody is unbelievably wealthy. Everybody lives for one thousand years. So like that it is very difficult to get renunciation of samsara, so difficult to achieve compassion and bodhichitta.

Here in this world it is much easier. You can see so much suffering. You can feel your own suffering of samsara more strongly. Then it is so easy to develop compassion and so easy to develop bodhichitta.

It is said in Tibetan that due to karma, strong karma, it is easy to generate strong bodhichitta. So we are incredibly fortunate to be born in this time in the southern continent. We are so fortunate because of that. That makes it easy to achieve enlightenment.

Countless sentient beings have suffered by being harmed or killed for every grain of rice you eat. Think about the previous grain from which it came. If you understand this, there’s no way you’ll be able to eat simply for your own selfish enjoyment; you’ll always make offerings of your food and drink.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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About FPMT

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) is an organization devoted to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service. more…

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